Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Verbena hybrida cultivar Kieverstem.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Verbena plant, botanically known as Verbena hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Kieverstemxe2x80x99.
The new Verbena was discovered by the Inventor in 1999 as a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of an unnamed Verbena hybrida seedling selection, not patented, in a greenhouse in Venhuizen, The Netherlands. The new Verbena was selected by the Inventor on the basis of its unique flower color and compact growth habit.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Venhuizen, The Netherlands, since 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Verbena are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Kieverstemxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Kieverstemxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact, upright and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit.
3. Dark green-colored leaves.
4. Light purple and purple bi-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Verbena differ primarily from plants of the mutation parent in flower color as plants of the unnamed selection had solid purple-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Verbena can be compared to plants of the cultivar Kievergrang, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Venhuizen, The Netherlands, plants of the new Verbena differed primarily from plants of the cultivar Kievergrang in flower coloration.